LeRoy Dunn of Midland heats up the branding iron for free wood branding souvenirs from Riverdays at Chippewassee Park. Last year, 850 of the wood branded souvenirs were given away, according to Jeff Bowen, who heads the wood branding exhibit.

"Get your free souvenirs - one for nothing, two for free," was turned into a slogan Friday night at Riverdays.

Midlanders Jeff Bowen, LeRoy Dunn and Dick King, along with Merrill resident Rick Eickholt, manned the wood branding tent along the Pere Marquette Rail-Trail near the Tridge. At times they broke from teasing each other to invite people to take a wooden souvenir branded with "'O4 Riverdays."

For those who wonder what wood branding is, it is exactly as it sounds. Every year, Bowen - who has brought wood branding to Riverdays for the last 10 years - has the year attached to a brand, and brings along a forge to heat the brand. He picks up wood from a local sawmill, and saws it with an old-style buzz saw powered by a Farmall tractor.

Hunks of wood are cut, then laid on the ground in rows for one of the men to brand with the heated instrument.

"Some people take them every year," Bowen said, adding he thinks he might have all of them but it's hard to tell because he didn't put a year on them for several years. They wind up hung on walls and placed in gardens, but Dunn has a different suggestion.

"They make good paddles," he said of the bigger ones.

Bowen keeps track of the souvenirs people have picked up, with 180 hash marks on a piece of paper by just after 6 p.m.

The guys say having fun is one of the perks to participating in the Midland Area Community Foundation-sponsored event.

"The only reason we do it is fun," Dunn said, smiling, laughing and joking.

There's a strategy to operating the tent as well, Bowen said. He starts the saw when the Princess Laura docks so the passengers hear it and wander by the tent.

Of the people who passed on the Rail Trail, many stooped to pick up a souvenir - lots of them children searching for just the right one.

Brittany Bunner, 10, and Cody Bunner, 4, both picked one. Cody was entranced with the fire in the forge and when the brand contacted wood.

"My son's really intrigued" by the fire, said mother Kris Bunner of Midland.

"That's sweet how they do that," Brittany said as the guys worked.

Bowen and his crew will be at Riverdays all day Saturday and part of the day Sunday.

With the Tridge in the background, Camp Fire USA of Midland County member Stephen York, 11, of Midland looks over the rail of the "Princess Laura."

The annual Riverdays festival is downtown at the Tridge and Chippewassee Park area through Sunday: